2026 Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition

Tue, Feb 3, 6pm - Fri, Feb 20, 2026 8pm

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Text in red that says 2025 Benjamin Menschel Fellowship and And Tracks and traces and changes

The annual Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition features interdisciplinary research projects related to art, architecture, design, and engineering by selected Cooper Union students. This year’s show is entitled And Track And Traces And Changes and features work by 12 Cooper Union students across all three schools. This year’s fellows and projects include:

Phragmites: Remaking Invasiveness by Shannagh Crowe AR’26, Eli Hicks BSE’26, Santiago Helbig ME’26, Deedee Kinzie A’26, and Jonas Margono ME’26 investigates the potential engineering and design applications of Phragmites australis, an invasive reed found throughout the Northeast.

Puncture: Three Debates in Ecological Commodity by Jayne Miller AR’26 examines crude oil’s growth as an export product and the tensions that have molded the urban environments of the United Arab Emirates.

Regrounding Architecture: A Rammed Earth Exploration by Natalia Naugle AR’26, Ashley Wu AR’26, Ilea Wunder AR’26, and Phoebe Zhang AR’26 examines the rammed earth construction technique as both material and process.

Soil Memory in Landscapes of Extraction by Isabella Ng CE’26 investigates the geo-environmental, social, and cultural effects of mountaintop removal in West Virginia.

Tracing a Dispersed Homeland by Sofia Gutman AR’27 is rooted in Gutman’s own family’s migration and displacement to examine the phenomenon of Homeland.

Opening: February 3, 6 pm to 8 pm

Gallery hours: Daily from 11 am to 5 pm

Located in the 41 Cooper Gallery, located in 41 Cooper Square, on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets.

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  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.